Provenance
by Chikiko
Summary: [Kigo]On the worst day of Ron's life, he thinks back on how it all came about.


Ron glanced at the beautiful blue summer sky. It was warm and sunny day. It was the perfect day for a stroll in the park or a fun day at the beach. Silently, he cursed it. Cursed it, for not mirroring his emotions. It should be dark and dreary, and there should be rain, thunder and lighting filling the sky. Instead it was a perfect day; talk about ungratefulness. Today was anything but the perfect day, in reality it was the worst day of his entire life. He would gladly live at Camp Wannaweep filled with it's evil monkeys, bloodsucking insects, toxic lake waters. He would happily let himself be mutated by a vengeful Gill, if it would make this day go away. He would even stop watching pro wrestling, playing video games, and eating at Bueno Nacho. He would do anything, if he could only make it go away. But unfortunately, nothing could take it away. Nothing, could make it better; the only thing he could do was cry uselessly because of it. No longer able to take the pain, he fell to grass on his knees, not caring about the expensive suite he wore. Tears continued to pour from his eyes as he looked at the cold grey casket that held the body of his best friend, Kim Possible.

None of this was supposed to happen. Just a few weeks ago everything had been perfect. It was April, and in just a few weeks he and Kim would have graduated from Middleton High School. They had made such great plans for their post-graduation summer break. They were going to go around the world and visit some of the places they had been to on missions, but had been too busy to enjoy. But now that was all over. Her life had been ended far far to early by the accidental teamwork of 0Prof. Dementor and Dr. Drakken. Shego especially played a major, yet inadvertent, part in Kim's death.

The worst part for him though, the part the hurt him the most, was knowing that he could've been able to stop it. There had been so many opportunities, but for one reason or another he had failed to take them. While it was Professor Dementor actually pull the trigger, he felt equally responsible for it. Damn it! He **_KNEW_** it was too early. Why didn't she listen to him? It was too damn early for her to take another mission. Global Justice could have handled it. Why didn't she listen? Why?

He should have tried harder to convince her not to go. He knew she was an emotional wreck. He knew better! He knew what no one else did, the secret that, now, only he knew. He shouldn't have caved in to her, puppy dog pout or no. It was his fault. But hearing the pain in her voice cracked him. He'd known her his entire life, and Kim Possible wasn't one to mope around when she was depressed. He knew that for her too get past it, she would need to stay busy. Staying inactive would only further her depression and remind her of it's cause. He knew that Kim was having trouble sleeping, because of what had happened. He also knew Kim would often come home and crash after some missions; he'd hoped that this mission help her with her recent bout of insomnia. So he reluctantly agreed. After all, it was only Dementor, Kim should have easily been able to stop him and his henchmen. Only, the mission with Dementor didn't go as smoothly as he thought it would have; now Kim would never wake up again.

He looked to the right of the grave where two headstones sat. One of them, the smaller one, had been recently moved from this very spot. The other headstone, made for a twin grave, would soon take it's place. Focusing on the name carved in the stone, he wanted to blame her. He knew he shouldn't feel that way toward her, but it was hard to shake the feeling. Especially, since he knew, deep down, she _was_ partially responsible. More accurately, it was her death, that effected Kim. The truth, that only he knew, was that his best friend had been dating her Shego for nearly two years. They had been far from the perfect couple, but they'd been working toward it.

He'd been extremely suspicious of her at the start. However, after two years of spending time with the couple, he couldn't help but feel they were perfect for each other. Sure, they had their fights, but what couple didn't? Thankfully, they knew how to separate their work from their personal life. Well, Shego did anyway. Kim, occasionally had a harder time, especially when she lost to Shego. As a result, Drakken missions often meant the couple wouldn't see each other for days.

Still, even this obstacle was unable to stand in their way. In fact, a few month ago, Shego had told them, she was more than likely going to be leaving the villainy business. She said, that she told Drakken she would quit, if they didn't take over the world by the end of June. Kim, of course, tried several times to get her to join them. Shego would always just laugh and say something like, "I"ll think about it Princess." Still, even if she hadn't joined Team Possible, it would've still been a major step for them. So major in fact, that Kim decided she was going to risk telling her parents. That too would've been another important step in their relationship.

Kim had avoided telling anyone else about her relationship with Shego, for fear of their reaction. Kim was desperately afraid of having to choose between Shego and her family. It was something that he knew bothered Shego, even if she didn't come out and say it. Seeing that Shego, who was essentially a selfish person, was willing to sacrifice so much for her, emboldened Kim to do the same. Kim had loved her family, but she was also very much in love with Shego. If asked to make the choice, it would've be difficult, but Kim told him that she wasn't ready to give up Shego.

With just a few exceptions that were being worked on, Kim and Shego's relationship was progressing smoothly. Kim would've graduated in about a month; in June, Shego was going to end her criminal career; and Kim was going to come out to her family in August. Long term plans were being made, what school to go to, what careers to take, and even the idea of eventually getting an apartment together. Kim had even took the first step to telling her parents, by officially introducing them to Shego as her newest best friend. While her parents where as suspicious of Shego's motives, as he had been two years ago. But Kim convinced them of her intentions to leave her criminal life behind her. Kim took that as a sign that things were going to work out for the best. Anyone who knew her, could tell Kim was happier than she'd been in a long time.

Unfortunately, one of the exceptions to their budding relationship was Drakken taking Shego's warning to heart. Suddenly, they were practically having to stop a crazy, even-less-thought-out-then-normal Drakken scheme three times as often as normal. Since Shego was still working for Drakken, that meant that Kim and Shego were spending less time with each other as a couple and more time as opponents. After weeks of this, the three of them were frazzled and worn out. Kim and Shego even went through a major argument that might have even led to break up. Thankfully, they managed to work it out before it reached that point, but it was a clear indicator of how stressful things had gotten. Thankfully, Drakken himself must also have burnt himself out, because he suddenly went silent for nearly two weeks. Those two weeks were just what they had needed. All the stress of the previous weeks had been worked off, and they managed to relax and enjoy the respite. Unfortunately, all of that came to a screeching halt last Sunday.

The three of them had been relaxing and having some fun at Shego's house that day. He always went with her to Shego's house, so that Kim could tell her parents she was going out to hang out with him and not lie. Not that he really minded, because he had always loved going to her house. He actually liked going to Shego's house almost as much as he liked going to Bueno Nacho. Her entertainment system was so awesome it was wrongsick! As usual, he and Rufus had been sitting on the floor playing video games on Shego's huge wide screen plasma TV. Surprisingly to Ron, the girls usually stayed in the room with him, instead of finding another room to be alone. He was actually very surprised that Shego didn't seem to resent him being around. But not only did she seem to tolerate him, the three of them would spend the time talking like good friends. Still, Ron wondered why Shego had such an elaborate entertainment system, since she never seemed to like playing it herself. Kim would sometimes play, but him and Rufus were obviously it's most regular users. Instead, Shego seemed content to simply cuddle with Kim on the couch.

This visit to Shego's had been going great. Shego had made some really good food for them, and he finally made it to the last level of Doomsday Apocalypse 3 without any cheat codes. It would have definitely been a great day, but Drakken had other plans. Shego frowned as she heard her phone ring and walked into the other room to take the call. When she returned a few minutes later she was in her cat suite and scowling deeply. "Sorry Princess," he remembered her saying. "I hate to say this, but I need to go to work. July just can't come fast enough." The two shared a long, and sadly their last, passionate kiss. After they stopped for air, Shego said, "I love you Pumpkin. Hopefully this one won't be too long and we can get back to where we left off."

Shego gave Kim one last peck on the lips and began walking to the door. Just as she was about to leave though, Kim said, "I love you too Shego. I'll see you soon." Shego reached the door and turned back to look at Kim. They stared at each other for several seconds, before Shego sighed deeply and walked out the door. Once Shego was gone, Kim brought hugged her knees after bringing them up to her chest. For a while, Kim didn't do anything except sitting on the couch staring at the now blank television set. Getting up from the floor he walked over to Kim and hugged her. That wasn't the first time Drakken had called Shego for an assignment when they were together, but those were always the ones that affected Kim the most. Kim accepted his hug without any complaint. The two of them stayed like that for ten minutes before Kim dug out her Kimmunicator and called Wade. She alerted the young computer genius to be on the look out for any signs of Drakken or Shego.

He didn't know if Wade knew Kim's secret, but the boy didn't ask them any questions. He simply nodded and told them that he would let them know if something came up. Two hours later, they got a call from Wade saying that Shego broke into the Middleton Institute of Science and Technology and stole some new particle disrupter cannon. Going to the scene of the crime didn't really give them many clues other than confirming Shego was involved. So they waited another five hours before Wade was able to locate Drakken's lair. Apparently, Drakken was once again in his favorite mountain lair in the Caribbean. As fate would have it, it was the very same lair he'd been using when they first met him.

Drakken, so it seems, kept himself busy those past two weeks. Infiltrating the lair was a bit harder than usual, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Sure he put up a ton of laser grids, but they weren't even close to being as good as the McHenry laser grid that Kim outsmarted on her first mission. Once Kim disabled the gird they quickly found themselves in the lairs main room. Shego was easy to spot, as she was seated in a chair in the middle of the room filing her claws. Drakken was on a giant platform overlooking the main room working on particle disrupter. Kim looked at him and nodded, before rushing into the room.

The lover's shared a quick smile when they saw each other, before taking their fighting stances. The two girls were probably as relieved as him that they would be able to take care of this mission so quickly. Not wanting to waste any time, Kim and Shego quickly began their customary battle. He, of course, went after Drakken. The sooner they could take care of it, the sooner they would go home. Things had been going good, until he tripped on a mess of wires scattered all over the floor and ended up getting tangled in them. While he and Rufus where trying to untangle himself from the wires, Drakken wasted no time and ran to the particle disrupter cannon. Unfortunately, he was still too tangled to do anything; even Rufus somehow managed to get tangled in the wires. A knot grew in him stomach, as he realized he wasn't going to be able to make it. Seeing Drakken ignoring him, he turned to look at the floor below him. He saw that Kim and Shego were so caught up in their match, that they weren't paying attention to what was going on around them. To make matters worse, it was at that moment that Kim caught Shego with a kick that drove her back several feet away. It unfortunately gave Drakken the opening he needed to shoot her and not risk hitting Shego. Knowing he wouldn't be able to stop Drakken before he fired the machine, he did the only thing he could think of; He shouted out a warning.

Unfortunately, Kim turned to face him and was still unaware of the danger she was in. Shego, on the other hand, saw the danger and without a second thought, pushed Kim out of harms way. Tangled in the wires as he was, he could only watch in horror as the lethal ray that had been aimed for Kim, struck Shego in the chest and continued on its way to blast a hole in the wall behind her. So fast was the attack and deadly was the ray, that Shego didn't even have time to register the pain. She simply fell on her knees, and her still open eyes stayed on Kim.

He barely managed to resist the urge to vomit as he saw Shego fall lifelessly. Seconds later, a heart wrenching shout was heard, as Kim saw what had happened to Shego. Kim was hysterical. She ran to Shego held the body of her lover close to her. He could see Kim trying to wake Shego up, as if she had fallen asleep or was unconscious. When that didn't seem to work, she began pleading with for her to be alright, to open her eyes and make some kind of sarcastic remark. But unfortunately no sign ever came, because Shego was already dead.

For several long moments he watched silently as his best friend mourned the loss of her lover. He himself cried, both for his friends loss, and for the loss of a woman he had somehow begun to think of as a friend as well. The somber moment was broken, however, when Drakken back peddled into some of his own machinery. From where he was, he could clearly see the horrified look on Drakken's face. He could also hear as repeatedly apologized. Unfortunately for Drakken, the noise also caught Kim's attention. The face she made as she stared up at the face of her lovers killer was one he would never forget. In it, he saw her pain, her fury and surprisingly even malice. As quickly as she could, Kim was on the platform. Finding where Drakken was, she launched herself at him and began mercilessly attacking the blue man. Other than curling up into fetal position to protect himself from the blows, Drakken didn't really seem to realize it was Kim that attacking him. Instead, he kept saying how sorry he was and that he didn't mean to do it. Unfortunately for him, the more he apologized, the angrier it made Kim.

Realizing that Kim was clearly not in her right mind, he once again began trying to untangle himself, before Kim accidentally killed Drakken. It took him about a minute, but he finally managed to free himself and made his way over to Kim. In the time it took him to untangle himself, Kim had managed to knock Drakken unconscious. Despite that, Kim continued her assault on Drakken. He knew she wouldn't listen to reason, so bracing himself for the possible danger, he grabbed her around the waist. Kim began to scream and swing wildly to get him off of her, but he held on. Once he had her attention, he tried to reason with her, but she was still too hysterical to listen. Of course he being Ron Stoppable, and she being Kim Possible, it was only a matter of time before she was able to break his hold. In fact, the only reason that he was even able to hold on as long as he had, was because she'd been too hysterical to think clearly. As it was, one of her wild swings caught him and sent him staggering. The moment his grip around her waist had loosened, he suddenly found himself on the floor with an enraged redhead on top of him. Seeing the look etched in her eyes and face, he was sure he was going to get the treatment Drakken had gotten. However, when seconds passed and Kim hadn't moved, he cautiously spoke. "KP?"

For over a minute, Kim didn't react. Suddenly, the girl buried her face into his shoulder and began sobbing. He wrapped his arms around her and did the little he could do to comfort her. Unfortunately, all he could do was hold her as she cried. He desperately wished that he could have done more, but how can you ease the pain of having the person you love killed in front of you? Shego was only his friend, yet the pain he felt was almost unbearable. He couldn't even begin to imagine what Kim might have been going through. So he continued to hug her, hoping that it would bring some comfort.

After a while, Kim let go and called Wade. Returning to Shego's body, she cradled her girlfriend's head on her lap as they waited for there ride. Since she seemed to be doing better, he went over to check on Drakken and give her some privacy. He quickly climbed the steps and looked at Drakken's beaten form. He winced, he was no doctor, but he knew that Drakken would be in the hospital recovering for quite some time. When their pick up came, Kim refused to let anyone hold Shego. She carried her into the plane and refused to leave her side until they reached Middleton.

Ron was suddenly pulled from his thoughts, when he felt a hand press against his shoulders. Turning toward the hand, he saw Kim's mother trying to comfort him. Seeing the pain in her eyes, brought a fresh wave of tears to his eyes, since she looked very much like Kim just a few days before. Just as before he wished there was something he could do, especially since he knew he'd been responsible for both women's pain. He had been given many chances to stop things, but he failed every time. He failed to stop Drakken from killing Shego, he failed to stop Kim from taking their last mission, and he failed to stop Dementor from killing Kim. He'd failed everyone.

"Ronald, you shouldn't blame yourself for this. It wasn't your fault. Kim wouldn't blame you, and you shouldn't either." Ron looked at her, surprise evident on his face. How did she know what he was thinking. "What you're going through is a very normal reaction. I blame myself for not only letting the two of you go on those crazy missions in the first place, but more specifically I should have stopped her from going on that last mission. Although I don't understand their friendship, I knew Kim was very depressed death. But – I thought maybe it would help her work things out. I..." Mrs. Possible stopped what she was saying and brushed tears from her eyes. "It's time. They're going to start lowering her now."

Mrs. Possible escorted him to the front where the coffin was. There weren't that many people there at the moment, as he had insisted that Kim would have preferred her burial be private. At Shego's funeral, Kim had been disappointed, possibly even offended, to see only that only the two of them and Shego's four brothers came to her funeral. Seeing as how they were burying her with Shego, he didn't think that Kim would want the hundreds of people that came for the wake to be present for the burial. He was sure Kim would've not only been worried about offending Shego, but he was sure Kim would have been a bit offended herself. Not that he thought it would bother Shego, but Kim wouldn't want to risk it.

So he told her parents that one of Kim's final requests were for her to be buried with Shego and to have a private burial. Her parents had been quite surprised, but they reluctantly agreed to it. He felt bad for having to lie to people who were practically family to him, but he knew deep down that both Kim and Shego would have wanted it. After a non-Drakken mission, Kim usually couldn't wait to get to Shego's house, so she could lay on couch with Shego and relax from the tiring mission. So in a way, this was merely a continuation of their custom. This way they could be together forever.

He watched as they slowly began lowering Kim's coffin to rest besides Shego. He could still see it perfectly in his mind. It was on Thursday; Shego had been buried two days earlier on Tuesday. The two of them had been called in to stop Dementor from using some contraption he built. He still couldn't tell you exactly what it was supposed to do, but he knew it was dangerous. Drakken, no doubt, would have loved to get his hands on it, if Drakken had been in any condition to use it, which he wasn't. The mission with Dementor had started out like any other mission. A quick flight provided by someone he couldn't even remember and they were at Dementor's Wyoming lair. He could tell Kim wasn't at the top of her game however, but it was still enough to handle Dementor and his goons. It took them longer than usual, but eventually all of Dementor's goons were down for the count, and Kim had managed to destroy Dementor's weapon.

Angry over his defeat, Dementor pulled out some kind of ray gun thing and began firing. Of course, he only focused on Kim. As usual, Dementor completely ignored him. So as Kim dodged Dementor's attacks, he grabbed a heavy object from a table and snuck up on Dementor from behind. He was nearly on him, when he saw it. Kim's exit out of her back handspring was a tad slow and awkward. Dementor must have seen it too, because just then heard the mad professor cackle as he lined up the next shot. Momentarily looking away from Dementor, Kim turned to him and smiled. As Dementor fired his ray at her, she closed her eyes, the smile never leaving her face, and attempted another back handspring. But, she was too slow; the deadly ray hit her in the chest. Kim was slammed into the wall twenty feet behind her with a sickening thud, and then fell unceremoniously to the floor. Blood splattered all over the wall and streaked down to the floor where it began to pool around her body.

He remembered feeling frozen in place. He tried desperately to deny what his eyes were showing him. It couldn't be real! It just wasn't possible! He tried to look away, but found himself unable to turn from the horrible sight. That is, until he heard Dementor's laughter. Instantly, he felt the monkey power within him surge, as a flood of anger consumed him. Before he could even think about his actions, he hurled the once heavy object in his hands, which surprisingly felt extremely light just then, at Dementor. Unaware of the danger behind him, the mad professor was struck by the heavy object and he went down hard. Looking at his prone form, he felt the strong desire to pounce on him and unleash his anger on the short man. But as strong as the desire for revenge was, the need to be with Kim was far stronger. As he ran toward her, he pulled out his Kimmunicator and called Wade for help. Once he reached her, he immediately knelt down next to her and took her hand. Not only was she covered in blood, but she looked pale and her hand felt cold and clammy. "Ron?" Kim asked, as she turned to look at him.

It took him a moment before he could speak, as he was trying to keep his fear from his voice. "Shh KP, don't try to talk, Wade has a medical team on the way, save your strength."

Unfortunately, she didn't listen. "It's ok Ron. Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

For a moment he didn't know how she could say that. She was bleeding way too much; she needed medical attention immediately. Buy something about the way she was smiling at him made him realize what she meant. She wasn't saying she was going to recover. He felt his stomaching turning, as he realized that Kim meant she was fine with dying. "No! KP, You can't die! You can't die! Just hold on a bit, the medical team should be here soon."

"Ron. Please don't cry. It'll be fine. Just . . . Please Ron, tell my family and Monique I love them."

"No! Stop talking like that! When the EMS team Wade sent gets here, we're taking you to the hospital to treat you. You can tell them that when they visit you in the hospital. Come on KP, please don't talk like this!"

Tightening her grip on Ron's hand, Kim continued. "I'm sorry we won't be able to go around the world like we planned after graduation. I'm so sorry Ron. I know this is going to hurt you, but please try to be strong and make a good life for yourself. I love you, you're the best friend anyone could ask for." She paused for a bit, before speaking again in a quieter tone. "Besides – soon, we'll be together again ."

At that point, he wasn't able to hold back the tears any longer. Kim just didn't want to hold on. Kim obviously wanted to be with Shego again, even if it meant dying. Yet she seemed to be waiting to make sure that he was ok first. It was both the happiest and saddest moment of his life. As much as he wanted her to live, he just couldn't force her do that for him. He could see she was ready to be reunited with her. With great effort, he forced himself to smile. "Don't worry KP, I'll tell them for you. We'll be fine here, so go on ahead. You know how Shego gets when you keep her waiting. I'll be ok, I promise."

He saw tears form in her eyes as she smiled at him. "I love you Ron." Her hand went limp. EMS arrived about five minutes later, and they began the slow trip to Middleton hospital. On the way to the hospital, he realized he was going to have to do one of the hardest things he'd ever have to do. With great trepidation, he remembered picking up the Kimmunicator and called Mrs. Possible.

His thoughts were once again interrupted. Mrs. Possible had once again touched his shoulder to get his attention. Once satisfied she had his attention, she pointed toward the joint grave. Looking around he noticed that Monique, his parents, and the other members of the Possible family had already gone forward to drop their flowers and were walking back to their cars. Only he and Mrs. Possible were left by the grave. Picking up two flowers, he slowly approached the grave. He dropped one flower over each coffin in the grave, and spoke quietly. "Hey KP, Hey Shego. Looks like you're together again huh? I hope you guys like this arrangement, it wasn't very much, but it was the least I could do."

"Shego, I want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for many things. I'm sorry I doubted you when KP first came to talk to me about you. I feel like an idiot now, for thinking you were just trying to use Kim. Thankfully, I came around when I saw how perfect you two were together. I'm glad I did. I thought I knew you before, but I was wrong. In these last two years you went from mortal enemy, to KP's girlfriend, and finally to one of my best friends. I still can't believe you left me your entire entertainment system. I guess I should have believed KP when she said you didn't really hate me. I thought you were just putting up with me, cuz of KP. I guess I really am a buffoon. I really wish I had gotten to know you a lot earlier than I did. Take care of KP for me."

Ron took a moment to wipe his tears, before turning to his best friend. "KP, you were the best friend a guy could ask for. Despite everything about me that's made me unpopular, you always stuck by me. You've always been like a sister to me, and I want you to know I'll always love you. You've only been gone a few days, and I already miss you so much. Life's going to be a lot harder without you. But don't worry, I'll keep my promise. I've decided to go back to Japan after graduation; the Yamanochi promised to train me to use my monkey powers. It may not be exactly the way we had planned, but I'm going to see it through. Besides it's not like I'm giving up cooking. It's just now, I'll be learning it in Japan. Pretty soon, I might even be a monkey kung fu cooking ninja master.

Anyway, I guess I better get going now. Your family is waiting for me. We're gonna be going back to your house for dinner. I'll be leaving in a few days. I'll come back to visit you guys before I leave, but I just want you to know how important the time we spent together really meant to me. I'll never forget you, either of you. Life's gonna be hard without you guys by my side, but always remember that I love you and that I'm going keep my promise to you KP. I'm gonna actually do something with my life. I'm not just gonna get by, I'm gonna dedicate the rest of my life to your memory. So don't wait for me, I'll catch up eventually.


End file.
